Brief Outline of Program of Formation, First Year of Aspirancy (2009-10)

Spiritual Formation:

· How to pray contemplatively

· Lectio Divina

· Discernment, prayer, and “Imitation of Christ”

· Major charisms in the Church

· Diaconal spirituality

Human and Social Formation:

· The parts of the human person in Christian anthropology

· The “Rule of Saint Benedict”

· Humility and Virtue

· Mentoring

· Marriage (how formation affects it, how it should help formation)

· Celibacy and Chastity

· Exterior and Interior conversion; setting and achieving goals

· The individual “personal plan” for formation

Intellectual Formation:

· New Testament

· Catechism of the Catholic Church

· The Holy Mass

Pastoral and Liturgical Formation:

· Praying the Liturgy of the Hours

· Introduction to Liturgical Theology

· Introduction to the GIRM

· Types of parish-based ministry

Other elements of formation:

· Continuing parish and/or community service

· Spiritual Direction (strongly encouraged for Aspirants; required for Candidates)

· Virtus training (if not already)

· Mentoring by deacon couple (still organizing this)

· Aspirants’ retreat/day of reflection

· First-year evaluation by DFRB

Aspirancy Path

Once the application has been processed by the Office of Deacons, inquirers who are accepted into the Aspirancy program will be notified. Aspirancy lasts two years, and is primarily a time for discernment of the diaconal vocation. This discernment will take place through personal reflection, through the group interaction of the classes and the retreat, and through the evaluations of teachers, mentors and/or pastors, and the Deacon Formation Review Board (DFRB).

It is expected that aspirants will be involved in parish or community service of some kind during this process, for their personal growth as well as for the sake of the discernment process.

Aspirants are encouraged to begin spiritual direction with one of the approved directors available in the diocese. If an aspirant has a spiritual director of long standing, he is not required to change.

Formation happens formally through the Saturday classes offered in Early, IA. These classes meet for three semesters of five class days each. The classes are meant to provide a solid theological base for both discernment and further diaconal development in the Candidacy phase. There are two kinds of classes. Intellectual formation is addressed in the college-level courses offered through the Diocesan Church Ministries Program (CMP). These courses must be taken for college credit, according to the cooperative agreement between the Diocese of Sioux City and Briar Cliff University. Aspirants will have ½ tuition paid for them by the Office of Deacons. Human and spiritual formation are addressed in the colloquia offered directly through the Office of Deacons. For convenience, these colloquia will meet on the same Saturdays as the CMP courses, adding roughly 1½ hours to the class day.

At the end of the first aspirancy year, each aspirant will be evaluated by the DFRB, based on a written self-evaluation and written evaluations from the course instructors, the aspirant’s pastor, and the Director of Formation. Aspirants showing evidence of a diaconal vocation and progress in formation will be invited to continue for a second aspirancy year.

A similar review will occur after the second year, supplemented by an Aspirants’ Retreat and by detailed psychological evaluation. This will be scheduled during the spring semester (March-April), with a psychologist indicated by the Diocese. It will be paid for by the Diocese. Aspirants showing clear evidence of diaconal vocation, progress in formation, and the intention to seek Holy Orders will be invited to petition for Candidacy after all evaluations are complete.

Summary

Year 1:

• New Testament (and concurrent colloquium)
• Morality (and concurrent colloquium)
• Ecclesiology/Church History (and concurrent colloquium)
• First year evaluation by Deacon Formation Review Board

Year 2:

• Old Testament (and concurrent colloquium)
• Ministry (and concurrent colloquium)
• Sacraments (and concurrent colloquium)
• Aspirants’ Retreat (1-day, in-house)
• Psychological testing
• Second year evaluation by DFRB